A fiddler for life

Charity Apple / Times-News

Thursday

May 23, 2013 at 12:01 AM

SNOW CAMP  Before two-time Grammy award winner Michael Cleveland picked up a fiddle, he was already familiar with bluegrass music. Clevelands grandparents used to attend bluegrass shows on Saturday nights in Indiana and they would bring the 6-month-old boy along. By the time he was 4 years old, Cleveland wanted to learn how to play the iconic Orange Blossom Special. He began to take Suzuki violin lessons and learned a number of classical tunes. But it wasnt until his sophomore year in high school that he began to play bluegrass. At 4 years old, I knew this is what I wanted to do, he said in a phone interview from Indiana on May 8. In 1993, he was selected to be a part of the Bluegrass Youth All Stars at the IBMA awards show. After graduation from high school, Cleveland toured with Dale Ann Bradley and Coon Creek before becoming a part of Rhonda Vincent and The Rage in 2000. He has won the IBMA Fiddle Player of the Year award nine times and said that its a blessing hes gotten to perform with some of his musical idols both on the road and onstage. Its just hard to believe, when I think about it, he said. The only reason Ive ever done it is because I love it. I love to play. Ive been really fortunate to get to play with a lot of the heroes, people I grew up listening to. Michael Cleveland and his band, Flamekeeper, will perform for Lil Johns Mountain Music Festival from 4 p.m. to 5 p.m. and 10 p.m. to 11 p.m. Friday. Flamekeeper features Cleveland on fiddle and vocals; Glenn Gibson on banjo and resophonic guitar; Nathan Livers on vocals and mandolin; Tyler Griffith on vocals and bass and Joshua Richards on vocals and guitar. Cleveland also will be part of Lil Johns All-Star Band from 9 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. Saturday along with Russell Moore, Marty Raybon, Darrell Webb, Steve Dilling and Marshall Wilborn (see schedule for more information). Cleveland said he played the music festival, then known as Bass Mountain Music Festival, years ago when he filled in as fiddler for Melvin Goins & The Windy Mountain Boys. You know theres going to be a great lineup, he said. North Carolina really responds to bluegrass. So many great players have come out of that state.

SCHEDULE OF EVENTS

Lil Johns Mountain Music Festival will celebrate 35 years of bluegrass with its Memorial Day Weekend festival today through Saturday at the Cane Creek Campground, 1256 Longest Acre Road. Various vendors will be on hand and concessions will be sold. Youth workshops will be available and a fishing pond is on site, as well. Radio personality Buddy Michaels (WBAG, 1150 AM) will serve as emcee and Sound Waves will handle sound for the festival. Admission is $30 per day for today through Saturday and a three-day pass is $80. To get there, take I-85/40 to exit 145 and travel Hwy. 49 South for nine miles and turn left on Beale Road. Then travel two miles and turn left on Longest Acre Road. For more details, call (336) 376-8324 or visit www.littlejohnsmountainmusic.com. The schedule is below, but is subject to change at any time.